Chronic sinusitis, also known as rhinosinusitis, is defined as allergic and
non-allergic sinus inflammation lasting at least three months. Symptoms can
include, but are not limited to, nasal congestion, facial pain, headache, and
daytime or nighttime coughing.

In a 2006 report, the surgeon general estimated that 60% of nonsmokers in the
U.S., or 126 million adults and children, are routinely exposed to secondhand
smoke.

Secondhand smoke exposure has been implicated as a risk factor for a number
of respiratory ailments, including asthma and other conditions including heart
disease, sudden infant death syndrome, and cancers of the
lung and sinus.

Researchers compared secondhand smoke exposures among patients with chronic
sinusitis to non-sinus sufferers matched for age, sex, and race in four
settings: home, work, public settings, and private social gatherings. None of
the study participants smoked.

Participants with chronic sinusitis were almost twice as likely as those
without sinusitis to report secondhand smoke exposure at social gatherings (51%
vs. 28%) and slightly more than twice as likely to report exposure at work (18%
vs.7%).

The patients were also more likely to report exposure at home and in public
places, although these associations did not reach statistical significance.

The more places people reported being exposed to tobacco smoke, the higher
their risk for chronic sinusitis, study researcher C. Martin Tammemagi, DVM,
PhD, tells WebMD.

Tammemagi is an associate professor at Brock University in Ontario, Canada.

The research appears in the April issue of the Archives of
Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. It was funded by the Flight Attendant
Medical Research Institute in Miami.

"Ours is one of the first studies to connect secondhand smoke to
rhinosinusitis," Tammemagi says. "Our research confirms that people are being
exposed in large numbers and it indicates that about 40% of cases are caused by
secondhand smoke."

The finding that private social gatherings are an important contributor to
secondhand smoke exposure was somewhat surprising, Tammemagi says.

"Certainly from a public policy point of view, limiting these exposures is
not easy," he says. "But people with sinus problems need to recognize that
exposure when they go to a party or a card game at a friend's house puts them at
risk."